Trolley-wheel.



J. G. SHARP.

TROLLEY WHEEL APPLmATIoN IILBD SEPT. 13 1912.

1,1 13,913. 'Patented 001;. 13,1914L llNTED STATE@ PATEN T OFFICE.

JOHN CESSNA SHARP, OF CHATTANOOG-A, TENNESSEE.

TROLLEY-WHEEL.

To all w71 out it may concern.' n

Be it known that I, Jenn CnssNA SHARP, a citizen o the United States, residing at Chattanooga, in the county of Hamilton and State of Tennessee, have invented new and. useful Improvements in TrolleyVhcels, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wheels, pulleys, and the like of the type sometimes referred to as being self-lubricating, wherein there is a chamber for lubricating material and a bushing having inserts or feeders intended to carry the lubricating material to the surface which is to be lubricated, in such manner as to cause said surface to receive the proper amount of lubiicant without waste of the latter.

A leading' purpose of the present invention is to provide a wheel, pulley, or the like, of the type stated, whose manufacture and use will introduce such economies as will render it eli'icient to thc highest degree i )ther purposes will be apparent from the f llowing description of the preferred em bodiment of the. invention.

ln accordance with the leading purpose of the invention the bushing is so constructed that it may be mest economically manufactured and when its parts are assembled and mounted in the wheel and in operative relation with the shaft or pin will assure proper lubrication of said shaft or pin without any waste or loss of the lubricant and without any danger ofdisplacemcnt of the lubricant-feeders5 and the wheel is so constrluvted and correlated with said bushing that it will have internal lubricantchambers which receive the bushing and whose openings are sealed by the bushing,

said chambers heilig separated from eachv other by walls or partitions whose inner edges engage the bushing and which walls or partitions serve as baille-plates and secure at all times, no matter at what position the wheel stops, a supply of oil to some portion of the bushing.

The invention consists in certain peculiarities in the construction and arrangement ot parts and in certain novel combinations of elements substantially as hereinafter described and particularly set forth in the subjoined claims.

ln the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred construction vof the bushing and a very desirable application thereof: Figure 1 is a Vertical section of a trol- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 13, 1912.

Patented Oct. 13, 1914. serial No. 720,171.

ley wheel and its pin embodying the present invention, the section of the Wheel being taken on the line 1--1 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a section of the wheel on the line 2-2 of Fig. l, this View omitting the shaft or pin. Fig. 3 is a detail representation of the buslr ing with one of the lubricant feeders separated from the bushing; the bushing being viewed from the side which discloses one of the. series of transverse bores. Fig. 4 is a detail representation of the bushing Viewed from a position at an angle to that of Fig. 3, and shows corresponding` ends of two series of transverse bores. Fig. 5 is a cross section through the bushing on a plane eX- tending longitudinally through one of the transverse bores, the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 for example, the feeder or plug being omitted.

I have selected a trolley wheel to exemplify the present invention, but it Will be understood that the invention may be embodied in many different types of Wheels, and in pulleys and other parts of machinery, apparatus, or devices. For this reason, the present invention is intended to be of broad application and the illustrated embodiment thereof in a trolley wheel is intended to be merely exemplary of one of a number of different suitable applications thereof.

The body A of the Wheel is providedwith a plurality of closed and separated lubri- -ant chambers 10, being constructed with oppositely arranged inwardlyf extending walls or partitions 11 whose inner edges engage the outer surface of a bushing B which is fixedly mounted in the body of the wheel. The bushing extends across the chambers 10 and has its ends tightly fitted to the Walls surrounding the axial openings of the body of the wheel, While the circumferential portion of its intermediate partis exposed to thclchambers 10 so as to be submerged in.

the lubricant, usually oil, in said chambers. The walls or partitions ll cooperate with the bushing, to the circumferential surface of which their inner ends are tightly fitted, in dividing the body of the wheel into a plurality of lubricant chambers having no communication with each other and relatively so arranged that lubricant will be in contact with the bushing in all positions of the wheel, even when the area of the body ot lubricant is less than the combined area of the chambers, the advantages ofwhich Will be apparent. Moreover, the correlation of the 'partitions and bushing is such as vto produce a wheel of maximum strength, insure an accurate fit of the bushing and overcome all 'danger of leakage of the lubricant at the ends of the bushing.

The bushing B is provided with a longitudinal opening or bore. 13 through which 'latten' as shown at .17. Preferably, each bore 14 kextends in a straight line through the bushing. Each of these transverse bores receives a'plug or lubricant feeder D which is so formed that the course of least resistance for' the passage of lubricant there-I through will be lengthwise thereof. These plugs are preferably formed of Wood eut longitudinally of the grain. The correla- ,tion of the parts is such that the ends 18 of each plug will be presented to one or more of the chambers 10, at or adjacent to the outer surface of the bushing, While its inner surface `is concaved at 19 for' a part of its length to receive the adjacent part of the pin or shaft'C, and conform to the shape thereof, said concave portion being of such depth and length that it extends a material distance into the feeder and across the planeof 'the feeding channels therein and engages the shaft or pin throughout a material part of thesurface of the latter.- The bushing is preferably tubular and: the pins preferably extend to the peripheral surface thereofand have their ends of shape conforming vto said surface.

The advantages of a wheel and bushing thusconstructed are many. 'The construction is such as to enable the bushing to be economically made and accurately fitted to the shaft by forming it with the transverse bores, inserting the plugs therein and then forming it witha longitudinal bore for the shaft or pin C; the last named operation serving not only to hollow out the bushing but also to remove from the plugs the parts thereof which intrudel within the diameter requiredfor the shaft-bore, thus assuring an accurate fitting of the feeders upon the shaft or pin.-A Moreover, when the parts are assembled, each plug or feeder is capable of feeding the oil uniformly and properly to the surface of the shaft or pin, the correlation of the parts being such that each feeder absorbs the lubricant from each of its ends and allows the same to sweep therethrough with a greater degree of freedom than would Fig. 4.

be the case if the lubricant were compelled to travel cross wise of the grain of the wood, for example. Moreover, the discharge of the lubricant is or may be from a more extended surface than would be the case if the end of the feeder were in contact with the shaft or pin and, again, there is no danger of displacement of the feeder.

In practice, the transverse bores 14 arc disposed in a spaced relation along the bushingand in a plurality of separated series, the bores of one series alternating with those of the other series, as shown most clearly in The corresponding alternatin or staggered arrangement of the inner sur aces of the feeders results in a better distribution 1 of the lubricant between the surfaces of the bushing and pin or shaft than would otherwise be possible.

It is preferred to employ four of the partitions or walls 11 and so arrange them that two will be in planes approximately parallel with the feeders D and between the planes of the separated series thereof, while the other two are arranged in planes at right angles to the feeders in a plane which intersects the feeders at about the longitudinal centers of the latter; but this number and arrangement, while advantageous, is not wholly essential to the invention considered in its broader aspects.

n assembling the parts it is preferred to supply the chambers 10 with lubricant while the bushing is being driven home in the axial openings of the body A. When the bushing has been fully inserted into its seats it seals the chambers 10. The usual oil holes in the wheel are omitted, for the reason that they are unnecessary. Possibilitv of the wheel losing its oil through the oil holes by the shaking out of the plug usually employed to close said holes is thereby overcome.

It has been found in practice that the described bushing and the described division of the wheel into wholly-separated chambers overcomes any need for re-Iilling the eha1n bers, as the oil seeps through the feeder so slowly that the wheel, particularly when it is a trolley wheel, wears out before the oil from the original filling is exhausted, and before any wear of t bushing is shown. This is an advantage of considerable moment, particularly with trolley wheels, for the reason that it enables the wheels to be shipped with the oil already in place. Moreover, the construction and correlation of parts is such that while the wheels are passing from the manufacturer to subsequent use by the purchaser, the oil has a chance to permeate the wooden plugs, and so keep them from drying out, and the wheel is thus made ready for use at a moments notice. It should be noted that the construction of the plugs while such that the oil is fed to the shaft or pin along the desired.

. exemplified form of the invention has been 29', 1912, Senn No. 680,701.-

manner, but other materials' having substanf 'tially 'similar qualities"1nay bev employed, if-

y tice the several purposes' of the iriven'tion'in oai the bushing andextending into 'the lait- 'erally-openparts of the'transverseAopeni-ngs, lubricant feeders. mounted in the transverse openings andextending acrossthe laterally A open parts ofthe latter and having their course of least resistance thel lug, is not such'as to permit a's'nliciently Vree flow of theoil as? to cause loss thereof when the wheel is not in use. Woodcut longitudi nally'of the grain answerspevery require'-l rnent in a most practicable and satisfactory lt will be understood that while the herein described somewhat restrictively, this being the form best adapted to carry into pracf the best manner, -yet changes in the. details' may be made without departing from the spirit of the 'invention or the scope .ofthe subjoined claims. j f This application embodies all of' the subject `matter shownydescribed and' claimed in s my (zo-pending application filed February Having now described the invention -whatt l believe to be new and-desire t'o'secure by LettersPatent is2` A, s i V l, lin a 'device Voi' the. kind setforth, a body having/an' axial opening and lubricant chambers; a bushing tightly` fitting said atrial opening. and sealingv the same; said bushing being formed with a lon 'tudinal opening and transverse openings, t etransverse openings beingl-aterally .open between their ends to the longitudinalopening, a shaft mounted in the longitudinal' opening away on the are ofthe circumference of the'l adiacent part of the shaft and receiving the saine, said lubricant feeders being adapted sets of lubricantl to conduct' lubricantl from each of its ends toits saidcut away between the lubricant chambers for causing theflubric'ant to hug the outer' surface of the bushing, partitions being'spaced from each other and having their inner ends in Yclose contact with the outer surface of the bushing. f

2;'In a device of the kind set -for'th, a hollow body having axial openings and having section, and partitions "itsfliollow portion provided with-a series of, inwardly extending spacedpartitions which divideit into afseries of 'separated lubricant chambers, a bushing whose'ends are 'tightly fitted inthe axial openings of the body and Whose intermediatepart extends .across the hollow part or the body said bushing being v'ifornieol `with a-longitudinal opening -to'receive a shaft and rovided with a plurality of edera each' of whichj feeders extends transversely of the'bushing and has a section between its ends exposedV to the soA longitudinal opening of 'the bushing, said feeders lhaving. their ends arranged to receive 'lubricant from saidfch'ambeis and be in@ formedl to yfeed"thelubricant longitudi-v fna ly from their Iends to their said inter'- I nediatel exposed sections, their' latter sec- I tionsbeing arranged to'be inoperative rela- 'tion with the surface of the shaft and-said partitions having their inner edges'tted t0 the circumferential surface. of thebushing and being. so arranged' that some of them will be in Vplanes approximately parallel vwith the planes ofthefeeders and between.

A my hand in presence of two subscribingwit' sections withinsaid laterally-open parts out*` v' 

